www.amnesty.org AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT 11 August 2020 AFR 16/2777/2020 BURUNDI: HUMAN RIGHTS PRIORITIES FOR NEW GOVERNMENT Following the election of the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party’s candidate as president in May 2020, the sudden death of the outgoing president Pierre Nkurunziza in June, the investiture of President Evariste Ndayishimiye and the appointment of a new government, Burundi is in a moment of transition. President Nkurunziza’s third term in office from 2015 to 2020, and the period immediately preceding it, was characterized by a rapid deterioration of respect for human rights. Many Burundians hoped that the change in leadership, if not of ruling party, could present an opportunity to improve the country’s human rights situation. The signals so far are mixed. At his inauguration on 18 June 2020, President Evariste Ndayishimiye declared his intention “to build Burundi on solid foundations, namely: good governance, respect and protection of human rights.” He, however, went on to dismiss some human rights defenders as acting as “puppets […] of the colonists,” while also recognizing dialogue as an important part of Burundian tradition.1 Burundi’s 2018 Constitution affirms that rights and obligations contained in international human rights treaties ratified by Burundi are an “integral part of the Constitution.”2 Likewise, the appointment of officials under United States (US) and European Union (EU) sanctions to the key positions of prime minister and minister of interior, public security and community development has dampened the hopes of many. However, regardless of who is in the office, the new leadership has an opportunity to set a new direction for the country. Amnesty International encourages the new government to seize this opportunity to improve Burundi’s human rights situation. Amnesty International recommends that the Government of Burundi addresses 10 main areas as a matter of priority. These recommendations include both immediate actions that the new government can take to end ongoing violations and patterns of violations, as well as longer-term reforms they could initiate to effect meaningful change. 1. END IMPUNITY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS The past five years have been marked by an increase in serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, carried out primarily by the police, National Intelligence Service (SNR) and Imbonerakure. To turn the page on this period, the new government should prioritize ending impunity for the perpetrators of such violations. In October 2019, four Imbonerakure members were convicted in Muyinga for killing a National Congress for Freedom (CNL) member. Delivering justice in such cases should become the rule, rather than remaining the exception. In his inauguration speech, President Ndayishimiye said that “all those who commit crimes, whether government members or other dignitaries, must be brought before the competent jurisdictions. All crimes must be punished to avoid falling into the same mistakes as in the past.” He also promised reform of the justice sector. Amnesty International encourages the new government to ensure prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigations are conducted into human rights violations and abuses. Members of the security forces suspected of responsibility for such violations, and any officials who ordered or condoned such crimes, should be suspended pending investigations and where there is sufficient admissible evidence, those suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in fair trials. 2. DEMOBILISE THE IMBONERAKURE 1 Speech of President Evariste Ndayishimiye at his investiture, 18 June 2020, https://www.presidence.gov.bi/2020/06/19/discours-de-son- excellence-general-major-evariste-ndayishimiye-a-loccasion-de-son-investiture/ 2 Constitution of the Republic of Burundi (2018), article 19 Amnesty International Public Statement 1 The Imbonerakure is the youth wing of the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD. The jeunesse, or youth, play a variety of roles, some of which are traditional political activities. However, the vast majority of Burundian refugees interviewed by Amnesty International during research in 2016, 2017 and 2019 said that they fled due to insecurity caused by the Imbonerakure. Their behaviour is problematic in two main ways. For over ten years, Imbonerakure groups have been used to intimidate and attack members of opposition political parties.3 Over the past five or six years this role has escalated. They are responsible for widespread intimidation and attacks on opponents and perceived opponents, threatening and inflicting violence on people who refuse to join the ruling party. A former Imbonerakure leader told Amnesty International that he was instructed by a local CNDD-FDD leader to do anything necessary to convince residents to vote for the ruling party in the 2020 elections – “even to use force or kill someone” – and that the official would protect him.4 Members of the Imbonerakure have also been brought in to act on behalf of the state, contributing to already blurred lines between state and party institutions. Since 2014, the Imbonerakure have been part of mixed security committees at the local level.5 Going beyond an advisory role, they frequently work on behalf of and alongside the police and SNR in carrying out often arbitrary arrests and other human rights violations and abuses. It is not appropriate for a political group to play an active role in security matters, reinforcing or even replacing the traditional security services. The Imbonerakure should have no further involvement in security-related matters. The ruling party should also promptly end the Imbonerakure’s widespread use of violence, harassment and intimidation against their real and suspected opponents. Anyone arming the Imbonerakure or ordering activities that amount to human rights violations and abuses should also be held to account. 3. REVEAL THE FATE OF VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES The increase of enforced disappearances since 2015 has been a particularly chilling trend. Families of people who have disappeared are denied the truth about their loved ones’ fate and the chance to properly mourn. Marie-Claudette Kwizera, a human rights defender working with Ligue Iteka, was abducted in Bujumbura in December 2015. According to information received by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, she was killed a few days later, having first been taken to the SNR offices.6 Witnesses reported seeing journalist Jean Bigirimana being arrested by SNR members in Bugarama, Muramvya province, on 22 July 2016.7 Despite investigations by his employer Iwacu Press Group, which the police and the National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) later joined, he has never been found. The new government must end the practice of enforced disappearances immediately, fully investigate and, where possible, prosecute perpetrators of ongoing cases and allow families the dignity of knowing the truth about the fate of their loved ones. It should also ratify and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, having signed the Convention in 2007. Failure to do all these steps will undermine attempts to rebuild trust with the families of victims and their wider communities. 4. RELEASE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE The crackdown on outspoken civil society and media included the arrests and convictions of several human rights defenders and journalists. Germain Rukuki, a former employee of the anti-torture organization Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT-Burundi), was arrested in July 2017. On 26 April 2018, the anniversary of the start of the 2015 protests, he was convicted on charges including threatening state security and sentenced to 32 years in prison.8 Similarly, 3 Human Rights Watch, “You Will Not Have Peace While You Are Living” The Escalation of Political Violence in Burundi, May 2012, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/burundi0512ForUpload_1.pdf 4 Amnesty International interview, December 2019 55 Amnesty International, Burundi: Locked Down. A Shrinking of Political Space, July 2014, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/4000/afr160022014en.pdf 6 UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, Rapport final détaillé de la Commission d’enquête sur le Burundi, 13 September 2019, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIBurundi/ReportHRC42/A_HRC_42_CRP2_EN.pdf para 98,99 7 Iwacu, “Flou autour d’une arrestation”, 29 July 2016, https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/flou-autour-dune-arrestation/ 8 Amnesty International, “Burundi: 32-year sentence for defending human rights an insult to justice”, 27 April 2018, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/burundi-32-year-sentence-for-defending-human-rights-an-insult-to-justice/ Amnesty International Public Statement 2 www.amnesty.org Nestor Nibitanga was convicted in August 2018 for “threatening state security” and sentenced to five years in prison, after he was found guilty of compiling reports for the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH) after the government had closed the organization – an accusation that he refutes.9 In October 2019, Agnès Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi, Egide Harerimana and Térence Mpozenzi were arrested along with their driver Adolphe Masabarakiza